Watchdog group says Indiana adjutant general violated rules by promoting religious group

10:00 PM,
Aug. 20, 2012

Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger

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The head of the Indiana National Guard says he made a video promoting an evangelical Christian group because it helps soldiers who struggle with their marriages after coming home from war.

But a military watchdog group says Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, the Guard's adjutant general, violated military rules and the First Amendment by promoting a religious group in the 33-second video while in uniform.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, based in Albuquerque, N.M., sent a letter to the National Guard Bureau on Thursday asking that Umbarger be investigated and punished. Former Air ...